National, International, Armenia, and Community News and Opinion

18 The Armenian Reporter | November 8, 2008Armeniaarmeniaat workProfessor Yeritsyan’s immeasurable wealthby Armen HakobyanWriting about well-known people isboth easy and difficult. It’s easy becausemost times an introductionis not necessary. Difficult becausewith their status comes responsibility,especially when what they dois unique and remarkable.The hero of our story, Martin Yeritsyan,professor of the quartet departmentat Komitas Conservatoryof Music in Yerevan is someonewho is creating miracles in his profession.Besides being a musicianand a pedagogue, he also makesviolins; the son and successor of arenowned master of violin makingor luthier, Shahen Yeritsyan. He isa person with equally interestingperceptions of the world with anaristocratic air about him.tttA heavy metal door opens and itfeels as though you are entering animaginary world. In reality it is asmall room in the basement of theAram Khachatrian Museum in Yerevan.The chairs and music stands,the pictures on the walls, the photographs,the posters and musicalinstruments for a string quartet remindyou that it is not an ordinaryroom.After getting to know the ownerof the room and feeling the warmthof his kindness, it feels as if thereare no walls and you are in a vastand breathtakingly beautiful gardenof flowers.I bring the instrument to themaster. He sits in front of his worktable, where tools necessary for aluthier have been placed with care.For a second I feel like I am committinga crime for interruptingthe work of a renowned master forsuch a minor repair. I tell him howI feel.“You are wrong, my dear,” respondsMartin Yeritsyan.He picks up the violin and after afew seconds says, “It is the productof the Moscow factory.” Then heexamines the “stamp” more closelyand smiles as if he has met an oldacquaintance. “I have worked onthis violin at least once before, nineor ten years ago,” he says. Of course,Martin Yeritsyan, just like all masterviolin makers has his own signature,through which hundredsof his instruments are identifiable.But how did he manage to recall exactlywhen he worked on this particularfactory production, whichappears to have no outstandingdetails? “Do you see this string?Only I had these stings in Armeniaand I used them about 9-10 yearsago,” smiles Martin Yeritsyan as hestretches and fixes the strings. Fora second, he truly does look like akind magician from a fairy tale; justas my daughter had described himafter seeing him for the first time.I thank the master and ask himhow much I have to pay. He smilesagain, “Nothing. Tell the child topractice well…”Call of the forefatherI go through Meroujhan Simonian’srecently published YeritsyanLuthiers which, meticulously analysesthe individualized musicalinstruments prepared by Shahenand Martin Yeritsyan and Hakoband Samvel Yeritsyan. He writesabout the lives of these Armenianmen. Nevertheless, at the startof my conversation with MartinYeritsyan I ask the master to talkabout his origins and his renownedfather Shahen Yeritsyan. I learn atruly interesting, touching andvery Armenian story; the story ofShahen Yeritsyan who was born inTrabizond, witnessed the horrorsof the Genocide at an early age,miraculously escaped the Turkishsword with his brother Masis (heMartin Yeritsyan in his studio. Photos: Armen Hakobyan for the Armenian Reporter.later became a victim of Stalin’s repressions)and his maternal cousinHakob. For some time he foundshelter with Kurdish nomads as aherdsman. The story of the escapeof the Yeritsyan brothers continuesin Greece, at the boys’ orphanageof Salonika, which eventhough was called American, wasactually sponsored by wealthy Armenians.This is where young ShahenYeritsyan became acquaintedwith the violin and the nuancesof creating this amazing instrument.This is where he learned thesecrets of the Italian masters ofviolin making.“My father moved to Armenia in1925 with his maternal grandmother,Mariam. Since he was already amaster, he established his studio inYerevan. He made mandolins, guitars,violas, violins, cellos,” Martinrecalls.Numerous generations of musiciansand professional performershave grown up and mesmerizedaudiences in concert halls withMartin Yeritsyanholding theremnants of aviolin destroyedduring the 1988earthquake.their performances on uniqueinstruments prepared by MasterShahen.During those years they beganto bring violins to Armenia madeby renowned masters of the past.Gradually a collection of instrumentsmade by Italian and Frenchmasters from the 17th and 18thcenturies were brought to Armenia.The instruments came fromdifferent cities, including Moscowand Saint-Petersburg. SahakKarapetian, president of the SovietArmenia Council of Ministers,Karp Dombaev, ConstantinSarajev, Vazgen I, the Catholicosof All Armenians and many otherdevotees contributed to this collection.Due to their efforts, Armeniacurrently has a collection ofabout 20-22 valuable and uniqueItalian string instruments, madeby Guarneri, Guadanini, Galliano,Belgontsi and other famous masters.There are also instrumentsmade by a famous Armenian, ShahenYeritsyan: two violins made in1933, one viola made in 1935 and acello made in 1938.With typical modesty, MartinYeritsyan doesn’t mention that heis the guardian and restorer of thatcollection.Faithful to the call ofthe master“ I was born in January 31, 1932, inYerevan in our house on MaximGorki Street which my father constructedtogether with my motherSiranoush. From a young age I wasalways in my father’s studio. WhenI was a student, my father alwaysinsisted and advised that I shouldfirst of all become a good violinistand only after that should I studymaking violins. Following his advice,I graduated from YerevanState Conservatory after which, Istudied toward my PhD. After preparinga concert program, whichtook me three years, I was immediatelyadmitted to Armenia’s philharmonicquartet as second violinist,”recounts the master.Living inside the Iron Curtainduring the Soviet era made it almostimpossible to achieve internationalrecognition, let alone goon concert tours to foreign countries.However, Armenia’s philharmonicquartet, composed of firstviolin Levon Mamikonian, secondviolin Martin Yeritsyan, viola YuriManukian and cello Felix Simonian,was allowed to participate in the internationalQueen Elizabeth competitionin Belgium in 1969 winninghigh acclaim and a special diploma.“It was an unprecedented thing inthe Soviet Union that a group oreven a solo performer from Armeniareceived permission to travelabroad. Seldom did they manage toget permission to participate in aninternational competition abroad,”notes my interlocutor.“After thatconcert the geography of out concerttour, of course, broadened. Wepreformed in Italy, France, otherEuropean countries and then in thedifferent cities of the USSR, evenSiberia.”Those were the years of stardomfor the quartet. From 1973 to 1975the quartet performed 26 pieceswritten for quartet by Armeniancomposers; experts consider this aunique undertaking. Today, the 46string quartet recordings by thesetalented musicians are kept in therecord library of Radio Armenia.1975 was a significant year inMartin Yeritsyan’s life. It was thatyear that he chose to leave hisprofessional career as a violinistto become a teacher. More importantlyit was the year that his guidein life, great teacher, and fatherMaster Shahen Yeritsyan passedaway. Martin, who masters the artof delicate engraving, prepared amemorial as a symbol of his loveand gratitude towards his father,reproducing a lacework stone-crosscreated by medieval master craftsmen.He erected larger memorialsby continuing his father’s missionof making violins that are works ofart with more punctiliousness andfervor. He simultaneously continuedhis teaching.Traveling the roadprepared by hisgrandfather and fatherI ask Professor Yeritisyan to takeme on a tour and recount the storiesbehind the photos and posterson the walls. Every single one ofthem has a unique history just likethe tools of the master, the majorityof which he inherited fromhis father. He brought those tools,which bear the stamps of famousFrench, Swiss and American companiesfrom Greece. According tothe master craftsman, “They canprobably be used for another 200years, because all of them havebeen made from high quality materials.”He can talk endlessly about theintricacies of making a violin, beginningwith the quality and drynessof the pine wood and thecurvature of the upper body andending with the significance of thelacquer. But I am more interested